From the Chicago Dispatcher
May 2009
Slumdog Officer
When Chicago taxi driver Karl Clermont called the Chicago Police and told them that a passenger pulled a gun on him in order to get out of paying a fare, they swarmed on the scene and took the man down, finding the gun in his possession.
Guess what happened next:
A. They charged the man with aggravated assault.
B. They charged the man with theft of service.
C. Nothing. This incident never happened.
D. They found out that the man with the gun was an off-duty police officer so the police gave the cabdriver a hard time and sent him on his way.
It's a journalist's dilemma. So far there's only one side to this story. It's the side of Karl Clermont's, a Chicago taxi driver of more than four years. His story goes like this:
Mr. Clermont picked up an intoxicated passenger downtown at about 1:35 AM on April 23 and drove him to Armitage and Damen. When he pulled over at the destination, the passenger got out of the cab without paying. This didn't surprise Mr. Clermont - a lot of passengers get out of the cab and walk up to the driver's window to pay since it's easier to access their money while standing rather than trying to reach in their pockets from the confinements of the back of a taxicab. However Mr. Clermont was surprised to see the passenger walking away from the cab. Mr. Clermont was facing west in his cab. The man crossed the street and started walking east. Mr. Clermont did a U-turn and approached his customer, telling him that he needed to pay for the trip.
The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a black handgun and pointed it right at Mr. Clermont and said, “You choose. Either I don't owe you **** or you get out of the car and see what's gonna happen.” Mr. Clermont told the man to forget it and then the man walked away, southbound on Winchester. Mr. Clermont called 911. Several officers arrived on the scene. Mr. Clermont got in one of the officer's cars and directed the officer to the alley where the man went. Several police officers approached the man, guns drawn, and told him to get down several times before he complied.
The officers handcuffed the man, secured the gun and then, one by one, looked in shock and disappointment as they passed around the man's identification.
When the officer who escorted Mr. Clermont came back to his car he said, “I'm not even gonna bull**** you. He's an off duty cop.” The officer then asked him if he just wanted the fare or if he wanted a report to which Mr. Clermont said he wanted a report. The officer summoned a sergeant, telling Mr. Clermont that a sergeant was required for such an incident.
When the sergeant arrived to talk to Mr. Clermont he was very dismissive and encouraged him to drop the matter but Mr. Clermont insisted on pursuing it and the sergeant told him to meet him at the 14th District Station. While Mr. Clermont waited for the sergeant another sergeant checked Mr. Clermont's chauffeur's license, hard card, lease agreement, insurance sticker and the seal on his meter. Mr. Clermont told the sergeant that he felt like he was being treated like a criminal. The sergeant assured him that this was just a procedure they had to follow since a taxicab is a rolling business.
It was about 3:00 AM when the original sergeant finally arrived to speak with Mr. Clermont and asked twice more if this was something he wanted to pursue. The other sergeant took a blank piece of paper and wrote a “complaint #” on it and said, “They'll call you in three weeks.”
That's Karl Clermont's story.
After that Mr. Clermont filed a complaint with the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA), and he contacted the Chicago Dispatcher later that same morning.
Mr. Clermont told me of the incident and that at that time he hadn't heard anything yet from the police. I called the Chicago Police Department's news affairs and provided the complaint number Mr. Clermont told me he was supplied but I was told that the complaint number didn't look like anything the Chicago Police would use. I explained the allegation and was told that somebody would call me back but I didn't get a response that day.
However, Mr. Clermont was contacted by IPRA, apparently based on the complaint he filed through them and not as a result of his direct dealings with the police. Later that evening I accompanied Mr. Clermont to meet with IPRA where Mr. Clermont provided a sworn statement. I spoke with Mr. Mark Payne, Director of Public Affairs for IPRA who said they “take all allegations very seriously.” The following morning Mr. Payne called me and said they were sending it to the State's Attorney's office.
As of press time, I have not heard back from the Chicago Police Department. A lot of questions are still unanswered. All we really have at this point is the very serious allegation of a Chicago taxi driver. The Chicago Police Department hasn't even acknowledged to us that any incident even occurred.
On Friday, April 24 I called News Affairs at the Chicago Police department twice more but wasn't provided any information and wasn't called back. Late Friday afternoon I sent an email to the Chicago Police Department which said in part, “I have questions about the allegation that an off-duty Chicago Police officer threatened a cabdriver at gunpoint to get out of paying a fare. Was there a 911 call? Were officers dispatched? Did they find a gun in the man's possession? Was he charged with anything at all like Aggravated Assault or Theft of Service? Anything?
Can anyone at the Chicago Police Department even acknowledge that an incident even took place? FYI, Mr. Clermont also filed a report with the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA). They got back to him and scheduled an appointment to meet with him. Last night I went with Mr. Clermont to IPRA where he swore to his allegations. I received a call today from Mark Payne, Director of Public Affairs for IPRA who said they were in fact sending this over to the State's Attorney's office. I look forward to hearing from the Chicago Police Department as well.”
Since the police haven’t commented to me yet, the only lifeline I have is the sworn statement of a Chicago taxi driver whom I had never met but who strikes me as being very credible.
I'm going to go ahead and take a guess:
D. They found out that the man with the gun was an off-duty police officer so the police gave the cabdriver a hard time and sent him on his way.
Final answer.
- George Lutfallah
That is very sad. That shows us that the Chicago Police are all crooks and liars.
Anybody, know what medallions going for today?
Check the Chicago Dispatcher. They list them there every month.
Thankyou, I will check out the paper
That's a lot of money. Some people got to be nuts to pay that much for a medallion. I am glad my medallion is payed out.
That's what I thought when I bought mine 2 years ago at $126,00. New York Medallions are $650k each, and you must buy 2 unless you are driving it. When I asked a veteran about the "high price" he came back with "Boston they are well over $300K, why couldnt a Chicago Medallion conceivably be that amount?
That is the city of Chicago for you. They can charge you any price for you to buy a Medallion. The city figures they make good money on ripping off cabdrivers with tickets all the time. That is why they never raised the price of Medallion yet.
You got to be crazy to get a big loan to buy a Medallion. Because the business sucks anyways. I am happy, I won my medallion in the lottery in 1998.
Unless we do somehting to fight hard to end more new cabs, end to taxi class and revokation of some taxi licenses, We will still make $40 a day working 12 hrs daily and fare increase won't help us a thing!
this city has tooooooo many cabs on streets while there are no many riders!
it is worst problem!
Utterly shocking. Sickening really.
most chicago cops are very biased towards cabbies and very unfair and racists.
I have been victim for chicago cop mistreatment myself too.
i called cops when passenger did not pay and cops arrived but just let the passenger go without paying.
another incidence is, i went to belmont cop headquarter to get an arrest warrant for a passenger who did not pay my fare. I had the charge sheet given to me from another police, that cop told me to go to belmont area to register arrest warrant but the cop at belmont say $15 fare is too low to register arrest warrant. i had the [passenger info from his ID left on back seat.
chicago cop most are very unfair to cabbies.
same thing happen to me. they tell you 15 dollar as excuse to get out of doing their job.
We have to strike.
All, us cabs need to strike and stick together. Show the City we are tired of getting screwed.
Any up dates on cop mistreatment to cabbie. on
Mr. Clermont case. i would love to get up ate on this you guys need to go public with stuff like this. put the police straight let them know who pays their salaries. the only bad part about even tryingto strike on the city is that some people are so hungry for money that they wont even try not to go to work for a day. thats why i say dame cabbbies unite yourself. money can come from another source. dont work for a week watch chicago fall and beg the cabbies to come back to work. Once they beg you to come back to work, you offer them a new agreement. let them know how your being treated. make a stand for your hard work.
